AGAINST 
(EPENDENCE 
ilR  ANSWERS 


VVASHING'ION,  D.  C. 
September,  191^ 


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ARGUMENTS  AGAINST 
PHILIPPINE  INDEPENDENCE 

AND 

THEIR  ANSWERS 


BY 
JOSE  P.  MELENCIO 


y 


With  an  Introduction  by 

CONRADO  BENITEZ 

Dean  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  University  of  the  Philippines 


IIOV  14  1911 


PUBLISHED   BV 

THE  PHILIPPINE  PRESS  BUREAU 

Munsey  Building 
Washington,  D.  C. 


September,  1919 


MOORE'S   PRINTCRAFT  SHOP:   WASHINGTON.   O.   C. 


CONTENTS  /^T 


Page 

A.  INTRODUCTION   (by  Conrado  Benitez) 7 

B.  THE  ARGUMENTS  STATED  AND  ANSWERED. 

I.  The  Filipinos  are  neither  savages  nor  semi-savages 10 

Percentage  of  non-Christian  peoples 10 

Literacy  today  10 

Treatment  of  the  non-Christian  population 11 

Pre-Spanish  civilization  of  the  Filipinos 12 

Advancement  during  the  Spanish  regime 12 

Filipinos  are  ready  for  independence 13 

Philippine  government  is  autonomous 14 

11.  The  Filipinos  are  a  homogeneous  people 15 

The  word  "tribe"  a  misnomer IS 

A  common  language  exists 15 

No   regional   antagonisms 16 

Absence  of  caste 16 

III.  The  Filipino  people  are  one  in  their  demand  for  independence...  17 

Composition  of  the  Philippine  Mission 17 

Filipino  attitude  towards  freedom 18 

IV.  The   Japanese   bugaboo 19 

A   scarecrow    19 

Assurances  from  Japan 19 

Attitude  of  Oriental  peoples  toward  the  Japanese 20 

The  sanest  course  for  Japan  to  take 21 

The  League  of  Nations 22 

V.  Will  America  be  imperialistic  ? ; . . .  22 

America's  right  to  take  the  Philippines 23 

America's   promise  of   independence 23 

The  Philippines  never  an  integral  part  of  America 24 

America's  Far  Eastern  interests  and  Philippine  independence 

are    compatible    24 

C.  THERE  IS  A  STABLE  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE 

PHILIPPINES  TODAY. 

The  only  condition  precedent  to  the  granting  of  Philippine  inde- 
pendence      25 

Structure  of  the  present  Philippine  government 25 

The  islands  are  self-supporting 26 

D.  LET  US  HAVE  FAIR  PLAY. 

The  Philippines  have  been  misrepresented 27 

The  Philippines  today  and  the  United  States  in  1776 28 

E.  CONCLUSION. 

Desire  for  an  international  personality •.  29 

America  generous  but  unseeing 29 

Grounds  for  retention  refuted 30 

5 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  HAS  been  the  privilege  of  the  undersigned  to  have  read 
almost  all  of  the  editorials  and  newspaper  articles  about  the 
Philippines  published  in  the  United  States  since  the  arrival 
of  the  Philippine  mission  last  March,  and,  as  a  part  of  the  work 
in  the  Philippine  Press  Bureau,  it  has  been  his  duty  to  write  to 
those  editors  whose  views  were  clearly  based  on  misinformation. 
There  were,  however,  so  many  of  this  type  of  editors  that  it 
became  well-nigh  impossible  to  write  to  them  all,  and  to  send  them 
the  same  kind  of  data  which  had  been  already  sent  to  many  others. 
Hence,  the  necessity  of  gathering  and  classifying  the  arguments 
advanced,  and  answering  them  wholesale  in  one  single  publication. 
This  Mr.  Jose  P.  Melencio,  graduate  of  the  University  of  the 
Philippines,  and  member  of  the  Philippine  bar,  has  successfully 
done. 

With  the  publication  of  our  weekly  printed  press  bulletin,  sent 
to  all  the  important  newspapers  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Philippines,  we  are  now  enabled  to  challenge  the  truth  of  many 
gratuitous  assumptions  concerning  the  Filipinos — statements  which 
heretofore  had  not  been  questioned  because  of  the  absence  of 
Philippine  publicity  agencies  in  this  country.  But  our  press  bulle- 
tins reach  only  newspaper  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  newly 
awakened  interest  in  the  Philippines,  and  in  the  Far  East  gen- 
erally, has  created  a  big  demand  for  Philippine  materials  on  the 
part  of  libraries,  colleges,  and  schools.  Already  several  state 
departments  of  education,  and  colleges  have  adopted  the  Philippine 
problem  as  a  topic  for  debate.  Other  institutions,  both  religious 
and  educational,  keep  asking  for  important  data.  To  meet  this 
demand,  the  Philippine  Press  Bureau  is  now  in  a  position  to 
furnish  the  minimum  amount  of  information  which  an  American 
citizen  should  possess  before  he  can  intelligently  pass  judgment 
upon  a  vital  American  problem :  the  redemption  of  America's 
pledge  to  the  Filipino  people. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Conrado  Benitez. 

September  2g,  ipip. 


"The  destiny  of  the  Philippine  Islands  is  not  to  be  a  state  or 
territory  of  the  United  States  of  America,  but  a  daughter  republic 
of  ours — a  new  birth  of  liberty  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific, 
which  shall  animate  and  energise  those  lovely  islands  of  the 
tropical  seas,  and,  rearing  its  head  aloft,  stand  as  a  monument  of 
progress  and  a  beacon  of  hope  to  all  the  oppressed  and  benighted 
millions  of  the  Asiatic  continent." — Jacob  Gould  Schurman. 


"We  ought  to  give  the  Filipinos  their  independence,  even  if  we 
have  to  guarantee  it  to  them,.  But,  by  neutralization  treaties  with 
the  other  great  powers  similar  to  those  which  safeguard  the  in- 
tegrity and  independence  of  Switzerland  today,  whereby  the  other 
powers  would  agree  not  to  seize  the  islands  after  we  give  them 
their  independence,  the  Philippines  can  be  made  as  permanently 
neutral  territory  in  Asiatic  politics  as  Switzerland  is  today  in 
European  politics." — James  H.  Blount. 


"Once  the  United  States  decide  to  give  the  Philippines  their 
freedom,  the  Japanese  government  will  be  the  first  to  sign  an 
agreement  for  their  neutralization." — Premier  Hara  of  Japan. 


ARGUMENTS  AGAINST 

PHILIPPINE  INDEPENDENCE 

AND 

THEIR  ANSWERS 


Seasoned  now  and  then  with  caustic  and 
The  Arguments  insulting  phrases,  there  are  five  arguments 
Stated  against    Philippine    independence    that   are 

habitually  adduced  in  this  country  whenever 
the  question  crops  up  for  discussion.     These  arguments  are : 

First.  That  the  Filipinos,  if  not  actually  semi- 
savages,  are  still  fresh  from  that  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment denominated  "savagery,"  and  that,  therefore,  they 
are  not  fit  to  paddle  their  canoe  of  state. 

Second.  That  the  Filipinos  are  a  heterogeneous  con- 
glomeration of  tribal  groups,  hopelessly  differing  from 
one  another  not  only  in  language  but  also  in  customs  and 
aspirations;  and  that,  if  given  independence,  they  ivill  be 
"cutting  each  other's  throats." 

Third.  That  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  do  not  desire 
independence. 

Fourth.  That  at  the  portals  of  those  beautiful  isles, 
there  stands  the  frightful  figure  of  Japan  ready  at  the  first 
opportunity  to  seize  the  archipelago  in  its  iron  claw. 

Fifth.  The  promise  to  haul  down  the  American  flag 
from  the  Philippines  must  be  withdrawn — the  American 
Republic  must  be  preserved. 

The  first  three  of  these  arguments  are  the  result  of  ignorance 
or  of  misrepresentations  of  things  Philippine.  The  fourth  is 
based  on  pure  surmise,  and  calculated  to  be  a  scarecrow.  The 
fifth  smacks  of  imperialism. 

The  following  answers  are  submitted  for  the  unbiased  con- 
sideration of  this  commonwealth : 


I. 

THE  FILIPINOS  ARE  NEITHER  SAVAGES  NOR  SEMI- 
SAVAGES. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  Filipino  people  are  savages.  Neither 
is  it  true  that  they  are  semi-savages.  It  is  admitted  that  there 
are  about  500,000  non-Christian  peoples  in  the  archipelago, 
who  used  to  be  in  a  stage  of  savagery,  dressed  in  scanty  gar- 
ments, indulging  in  head-hunting  at  times,  and  dwelling  in 
the  mountains  with  only  the  bow  and  arrow  as  their  venerable 
companions.  But  the  days  of  head-hunting  are  gone.  The 
mountain  tribes  as  well  as  the  Moros  of  Mindanao  are  fast  being 
won  over  to  the  ways  of  civilization  and  of  Americanism. 
Schools,  hospitals  and  religious  centers  have  been  instituted 
among  them.  Many  of  them  have  been  Christianized.  They 
actually  enter  into  trade  transactions  with  the  rest  of  the 
natives. 

But  the  significant  fact  is,  that  they  constitute  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  entire  population  of  the  islands,  which  is 
10,500,000.  There  are  ten  million  Christian  Filipinos.  They 
have  been  Christians  for  333  years.  Forty-five  per  cent  of  the 
entire  population  of  ten  years  of  age  and  over 
Percentage  of  were  literate  before  the  Americans  came. 
Non-Christian  They  have  been  educated  in  the  schools  which 
Peoples  Spain  had  the  kindness  to   establish   among 

them.  The  foremost  Spanish  University  in 
Manila  is  a  quarter  of  a  century  older  than  Harvard.  The 
founders  of  the  short-lived  Philippine  Republic  were,  and  many 
of  the  leaders  of  today  are,  products  of  Spanish  schools.  The 
system  of  teaching  pursued  was  mediaeval  to  be  sure.     But  the 

Filipinos  made  the  best  of  it,  and  we  were  fairly 
Literacy  well  transformed  into  Mediaeval  Europeans  long 
Today  before  the  implantation  of  America's  sovereignty. 

The  percentage  of  literacy  now  is  70  per  cent.  It 
is  higher  than  the  percentage  in  Italy,  Greece,  Roumania ; 
higher  than  in  most  countries  whose  independence  has  recently 
been  recognized  by  the  associated  powers. 

The  non-Christian  peoples  of  the  Philippines  have  always 
been  accorded  just  treatment  by  the  Christian  population. 
Now  they  have  representatives  in  each  of  the  Houses  of  the 

10 


Philippine  Legislature.     There  is  a  Moro  Senator,  two  Moro 
Representatives,  and  one  Igorot.    The  Mo- 
Treatment  of  the     hammedan  religion  is  respected  by  the  rest 
non-Christian  of   the   archipelago,   resulting  in   a   closer 

Population.  relation  between  the  Moros  of  Mindanao 

and  the  Christians  of  Luzon  and  the  Vis- 
ayas.  The  following  passage  in  a  speech  of  a  Moslem  third 
member  of  the  sub-province  of  Zamboanga  is  significant : 

"He  who  thinks  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  Moslem  and  the 
Filipino  to  live  together  in  peace  and  participate  together  in  the 
government  is  foolish  and  lacks  wisdom." 

The  summer  capital  of  the  Philippine  Islands  (Baguio)  is 
located  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains  of  Northern  Luzon  where 
Igorots  abound.  Daily,  multitudes  of  them  can  be  seen  com- 
ing down  from  their  homes  among  the  pine  trees,  bringing 
the  products  of  their  plantations  to  the  market,  buying  of  the 
Christian  Filipinos  whatever  objects  attract  their  taste,  and 
otherwise  mingling  peacefully  with  the  visitors  from  the  low- 
lands. Daily,  they  can  be  seen  serving  as  waiters  in  hotels, 
employed  as  messengers  and  salesmen  in  stores,  or  acting  as 
guides  through  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains.  In  recogni- 
tion of  their  civic  virtue,  the  charter  of  the  city  provides  that 
there  shall  be  an  advisory  council  to  be  composed  of  Igorots. 
Igorots  play  baseball  and  tennis ;  they  send  their  children  to 
school.  Many  of  them  are  intermediate  graduates,  and  many 
more  are  in  the  high  schools.  One  Igorot  is  about  to  receive 
his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  the  University  of  the 
Philippines.  Those  who  are  Christians  bear  American  names 
(such  as  Clapp,  Irving,  etc.),  and  are  proud  of  it. 

It  will  surely  be  a  question  of  only  a  decade  or  so  when  the 
non-Christian  peoples  of  the  Philippines  will  be  completely 
won  over  to  the  ways  and  manners  of  civilized  races.  Being 
immuned  from  Mediaeval  influences,  and  being  reared  exclu- 
sively under  the  ambient  air  of  Americanism,  they  are  destined 
to  be  a  vigorous  element  in  the  ensuing  processes  of  Philippine 
nationalism. 

There  is  one  thing  that  the  Filipino  people  have  regretted 
ever  since  their  association  with  America  began.  It  is,  that 
Americans,  the  great  bulk  of  them,  have  always  thought  that 
twenty  years  ago  the  people  of  the  islands  were  still  in  the 

U 


paleolithic  stage  of  human  development,  and 
Pre-Spanish  that  it  was  only  when  the  Americans  came 
Civilization  of  that  tiie  processes  of  Filipino  regeneration 
the  Filipinos         commenc*.i.      We    humbly    retort    that    the 

Filipino  people  were  possessed  of  a  civiliza- 
tion of  their  own  even  before  the  Spaniards  came.  This  is 
not  stated  by  way  of  self-lauHation.  It  is  the  opinion  of  foreign 
writers,  who,  unbiased,  have  delved  into  the  records  of  the 
centuries  and  have  reproduced  their  discoveries  in  print.  The 
following  quotations  are  submitted  : 

"The  inhabitants  of  the  Philippines  possessed  a  culture  of 
their  own  prior  to  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  islands. 

Those  along  the  coasts  were  the  most  advanced  in  civilization. 
Their  material  wealth  was  considerable.  The  chief  occupations  were 
agriculture,  fishing,  weaving,  some  manufacturing,  and  trade  both 
inter-island  and  with  the  mainland,  generally  in  the  form  of  barter. 
They  were  expert  navigators.  They  used  standard  weights  and 
measures.  The  year  was  divided  into  twelve  lunar  months.  They 
had  a  peculiar  phonetic  alphabet,  wrote  upon  leaves,  and  had  a 
primitive  literature.  The  majority  of  the  people  are  said  to  have 
been  able  to  read  and  write."  (Justice  George  A.  Malcolm,  "The 
Government  of  the  Philippine  Islands,"  pp.  27  and  28.) 

"The  inhabitants  of  these  islands  were  by  no  means  savages, 
entirely  unreclaimed  from  barbarism  before  the  Spanish  advent  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  They  had  a  culture  of  their  own.*'  (John 
foreman,  an  English  scholar.) 

"They  had  already  reached  a  considerable  degree  of  civiliz- 
ation at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest."  (Ferdinand  Blumen- 
tritt,  an  Austrian  professor.) 

"Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  they  found  the  ancestors 
of  the  present-day  Filipinos  in  possession  of  considerable  culture 
which  is  somewhat  comparable  to  that  of  some  of  the  mountain 
peoples  of  today."    (Dr.  James  A.  Robertson,  an  American  scholar.) 

Three  centuries  of  Spanish  domination, 
Advancement  despite  its  vices  and  illiberalities,  had  im- 

During  the  proved    the    condition    and    extended    the 

Spanish  Regime       attainment  and  culture  of  the  inhabitants 

of  the  Philippines.  Let  foreign  writers 
again  speak: 

"Three  million  people  inhabit  these  different  islands,  and  that 
of  Luzon  contains  nearly  a  third  of  them.  These  people  seemed  to 
me  no  way  inferior  to  those  of  Europe ;  they  cultivate  the  soil  with 
intelligence;   they  are  carpenters,   cabinet-makers,   smiths,  jewelers, 

12 


weavers,  masons,  etc.  1  have  gone  through  their  villages  and  I 
have  found  them  kind,  hospitable,  and  affable."  ("Voyage  de  la 
Perouse,  author  du  Monde,"  Paris,  I797.  ^^,  P-  347-) 

"If  the  general  condition  of  the  civilization  of  the  Tagalos, 
Pampangos,  Bicoles,  Bisayans,  Ilocanos,  Cagayanes,  and  Sambales 
is  compared  to  the  European  constitutional  countries  of  Servia, 
Roumania,  Bulgaria  and  Greece,  the  Spanish-Filipino  civilization  of 
the  said  Indian  districts  is  greater  and  of  larger  extent  than  of  those 
countries."  (Ferdinand  Blumentritt,  in  La  S olidaridad  of  October 
15.  1899-) 

"  *  *  *  the  Spanish  rule  was  generally  a  mild  one,  partaking 
of  a  patriarchal  character.  *  *  *  The  governors  and  the  gov- 
erned married,  mingled  socially  and  worshipped  together.  *  *  * 
Latin  civilization  was  implanted.  This  found  its  principal  avenues 
through  the  results  of  Christianity;  the  unifying  influences  of  a 
central  administration ;  modern  laws ;  education,  although  not  uni- 
versal ;  freedom  for  women  far  in  advanced  of  other  Oriental 
countries;  the  introduction  of  other  staple  products;  and  contact 
with  the  outer  world."  (Justice  George  A.  Malcolm^,  The  Govern- 
ment of  the  Philippine  Islands,  pp.  102-103.) 


THE  FILIPINOS  ARE  READY  FOR  INDEPENDENCE. 

But,  then,  it  is  said  that,  despite  their  own  civilization, 
despite  the  progress  they  have  accumulated  through  the  years, 
despite  their  magnificent  response  to  America's  approach — 
despite  all  this,  it  is  said  that  the  Filipinos  are  not  fit  to  be 
the  directors  of  their  own  affairs.  America  has  preferred  to 
give  credence  to  the  haphazard  statements  of  travelers  and 
to  the  sweeping  assertions  of  multicolored  interests.  The 
opinions  of  her  own  governmental  representatives — that  of 
Admiral  Dewey,  those  of  the  governors  that  were,  and  that 
of  the  actual  incumbent — opinions  expressed  in  their  official 
capacity  and  under  their  official  responsibility  attesting  to 
the  capacity  of  the  Filipino  people  to  set  up  an  independent 
nation — have  all  been  discounted.  It  is  easy  to  understand, 
however,  why  advocates  of  retention  should  harp  upon,  and 
ever  and  anon  blazon  out  to  the  world,  the  unfitness  of  the 
Filipinos  for  self-government.  We  say  it  is  easy  to  understand, 
because  it  is  the  only  ground  on  which  prolonged  sovereignty 
over  the  Philippines  can  possibly  be  justified.  In  the  words 
of  Mr.  Blount,  "ever  since  Mr.  McKinley  took  the  Philippines, 
it  has  been  the  awkward  but  inexorable  duty  of  the  defenders  of 

13 


tlujt  good  man's  fame  to  deprecate  Filipino  capacity  for  self 
government/' 

The  Filipinos  submit  that,  tested  by  their  showing  of  the 
last  twenty  years,  their  capacity  for  an  independent  national 
status  cannot  be  challenged.  All  of  the  provincial  governors 
who  are  the  chief  executives  of  the  provinces,  are  now  Filipinos, 

except  the  governors  of  the  provinces  of 
The  Philippine  Cotabato,  Lanao  and  Sulu,  in  the  department 
Government  Is  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu.  Of  the  forty-six 
Autonomous  provincial    treasurers,    who    are    the    chief 

financial  officers,  only  seven  are  Americans. 
There  are  thirty  Filipino  district  engineers  and  thirteen  Amer- 
icans. There  are  about  1,000  municipalities  in  the  Philippines 
all  of  which  are  governed  by  elective  Filipino  officials.  There 
are  about  forty-five  provinces  likewise  governed  by  Filipinos. 
There  are  two  elective  houses  of  the  legislature  composed 
entirely  of  Filipinos  and  elected  by  direct  popular  suffrage. 
Out  of  seven  members  in  the  Cabinet  six  are  Filipinos,  and 
most  of  the  heads  of  the  executive  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment are  Filipinos.  The  Insular  Treasurer  is  a  Filipino.  Al- 
most all  of  the  teachers  of  the  primary  schools  are  Filipinos. 
Ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the  teachers  in  the  intermediate 
schools  are  Filipinos.  And  of  the  teaching  force  in  the  sec- 
ondary schools,  44  per  cent  are  Filipinos.  Of  the  3o0  super- 
vising teachers  86  per  cent  are  Filipinos  and  the  majority  of 
the  academic  and  industrial  supervisors  are  also  Filipinos. 
There  are  six  Filipino  division  superintendents  of  schools,  and 
both  the  assistant  director  of  education  and  the  undersecretary 
of  public  instruction  are  Filipinos.  About  50  per  cent  of  the 
instructors  and  professors  in  the  University  of  the  Philippines 
are  Filipinos.  The  local  administration  of  justice  is  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  Filipinos,  with  the  exception  of  sixteen  Amer- 
ican ex-officio  justices  of  the  peace.  Of  the  twenty-six  District 
Judges  of  First  Instance,  nineteen  are  Filipinos  and  seven  are 
Americans.  There  are  four  Filipinos  and  five  American  Just- 
ices in  the  Supreme  Court.  The  Chief  Justice  has  always  been 
a  Filipino. 

That  is  how  autonomous  our  institutions  are.  And  that  is  the 
autonomy  which  the  Filipinos  want  converted  into  genuine  sov- 
ereignty.   We  desire  an  international  personality.     We  can  never 

14 


hope  to  he  a  virile  nation  or  race  unless  we  are  left  alone  to  stand 
the  battering  of  the  times.  The  question  of  our  fitness  for  self- 
government  is  for  us  to  determine.  WE  KNOW  THAT  WB 
ARE  FIT. 

II. 

THE  FILIPINOS  ARE  A  HOMOGENEOUS  PEOPLE. 

Secondly,  it  is  not  true  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Philippines 
are  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  more  or  less  antagonistic  tribes 
ready  to  spring  upon  each  other's  throat  as 
Word  "Tribe"  soon  as  they  are  set  free.  The  outstanding 
a  Misnomer  fact  is,  that  despite  the  distances  from  one 
island  to  another,  we  are  a  remarkably  homo- 
geneous people.    In  the  words  of  Mr.  Taft, 

"the  word  'tribe'  gives  an  erroneous  impression.  There 
is  no  tribal  relation  among  them.  There  is  a  racial 
solidarity  among  the  Filipino  people,  undoubtedly. 
They  are  homogeneous.  I  cannot  tell  the  difference 
between  an  Ilocano  and  a  Tagalog,  or  a  Visayan.  The 
Ilocanos,  it  would  seem  to  me,  have  something  of  an 
admixture  of  the  Japanese  blood ;  the  Tagalogs  have 
rather  more  of  the  Chinese ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
Visayans  had  still  more.  But  to  me  all  the  Filipinos 
were  alike." 

From  the  mountain  tops  of  Luzon  to  the  southernmost  point 
of  Mindanao  the  peoples  have  similar  features  and  color ;  their 
ways  and  manners  are  very  much  the  same ;  their  style  of 
living  and  their  customs  are  very  much  alike ;  and  they  are 
being  educated  along  identical  lines.  True,  they  speak  many 
languages ;  for  that  topography  has  been  responsible.  But  they 
have  always  had  a  common  medium  of  social  and  govern- 
mental intercourse.  It  used  to  be  the  Spanish  language.  It 
is  now  fast  being  supplanted  by  the  Eng- 
A  Common  lish.    And  English  is  well-nigh  the  exclu- 

Language  Exists  sive  social  and  official  language  of  the 
archipelago.  The  system  of  education  is 
so  conceived  and  executed  as  to  conduce  to  that  end  inevitably. 
American  methods  and  standard  of  living,  American  history 
and  ideals,  are  being  daily  brought  home  to  the  children.  All 
which  makes  for  a  strong  nationality,  for  a  virile  spirit  of 
nationalism  that  will  be  more  potent  as  the  days  go  by. 

15 


There  exists  no  antagonism  whatever  between  the  various 
peoples  of  the  PhiHppines.  The  national  legislature  is  com- 
posed of  men  from  all  "tribes."  All  groups  enjoy  equal  civic 
rights.     Sectional  riots  have  never  transpired.     The  test  for 

a  governmental  position  is  not  a  sectional  test : 
No  Regional  it  is  individual  mettle  and  capacity.  The 
Antagonisms      President  of  the  Philippine  Senate  is  a  Tagalo. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
is  a  Visayan.  The  Attorney  General  is  an  Ilocano.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  is  an  Ilocano.  And  so  on  in  gradation. 
Everywhere  in  the  government,  the  Tagalo  works  side  by  side 
with  the  Visayan,  Ilocano  or  Bicolano.  No  cleavage  between 
the  "tribes"  can  be  shown  to  exist,  and  no  cleavage  has  ever 
existed. 

Likewise,  aristocracy  and  caste  are  absent  in  the  social  and 
political  structure  of  the  Philippines.  The  Four  Hundred,  in 
its  popular  acceptation,  finds  no  counterpart  there.  The 
wealth  of  the  islands  is  evenly  distributed.  There  is  an  unusual 

division  of  land  among  the  people,  giving  rise  to 
Absence  an  intelligent  middle  class.  There  are  no  big  in- 
of  Caste       dustrial  combines  such  as  America  has,  which  are 

often  accused  of  tampering  with  legislation.  Our 
leaders  rise  to  power,  not  through  money  or  pull.  They  rise 
through  grit  and  intellectual  alertness.  Many  of  the  foremost 
men  in  the  islands  today  have  come  from  the  humblest  families 
dwelling  in  unpretentious  nipa  homes.  The  spirit  of  our  in- 
stitutions is  identical  with  America's  spirit — the  spirit  of 
equal  opportunity  to  all.     It  is  the  spirit  that  makes  men  free. 

Arid  what  is  most  remarkable — we  need  not  give  instructions 
in  a  hundred  per  cent  Philippinism.  We  need  no  apostles  to 
preach  that  kind  of  a  gospel.  We  are  not  confronted  with  the 
stupendous  task  of  making  every  citizen  a  hundred  per  cent  Fili- 
pino. We  have  no  anarchists  in  our  midst.  No  bolsheviks.  No 
I.  W.  Ws.  A  Filipino,  however  hyphenated  he  be,  loves  his  flag, 
which,  by  law,  he  is  not  permitted  to  display.  He  loves  his 
country.  He  does  not  think  of  disrupting  her.  He  would  light, 
bleed  and  die  for  her. 

But,  then,  it  is  prophesied  that  if  independence  is  granted,  "the 
people  will  quarrel,  there  will  be  rival  factions,  and  neither  will 

16 


have  the  mental  balance  to  accept  results  that  are  adverse."  So 
be  it.  But  we  answer :  Was  not  America's  civil  war  the  great 
disruption  that  promptly  solidified  her  national  structure,  until 
today  she  is  the  mightiest  commonwealth  on  the  face  of  the  globe? 

III. 

THE     FILIPINO     PEOPLE     ARE     ONE     IN     THEIR 

DEMAND  FOR  INDEPENDENCE. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  Filipinos  as  a  whole  do  not  want  inde- 
pendence. All  statements  to  the  contrary  are  calculated  to  defeat 
the  present  campaign  for  independence,  for  reasons  more  or 
less  personal.  The  mission  that  recently  visited  this  country,  for 
example,  has  been  attacked  as  non-representa- 
Composition  of  tive  of  the  will  of  the  masses  and  that  it  was 
the  Philippine  composed  of  a  coterie  of  politicians  dominated 
Mission  solely  by  a  desire  to  attain  personal  distinction. 

The  facts  about  that  mission  are  as  clear  as 
day.  It  was  composed  of  members  of  both  Houses  of  the  Phil- 
ippine Legislature  and  of  representatives  of  the  commercial,  labor 
and  agricultural  interests  of  the  islands.  Both  parties  of  the 
Philippines  were  likewise  represented.  The  mission  was  created 
by  the  so-called  Commission  of  Independence,  which,  in  turn, 
was  created  by  the  Philippine  Legislature  and  is  a  permanent 
body  enjoined  to  consider  and  report  to  the  Legislature:  (a) 
Ways  and  means  of  negotiating  now  for  the  granting  and  recog- 
nition of  the  independence  of  the  Philippines;  (b)  external 
guarantees  of  the  stability  and  permanence  of  said  independence 
as  well  as  of  territorial  integrity;  (c)  ways  and  means  of  organiz- 
ing in  a  speedy,  effectual  and  orderly  manner  a  constitutional 
and  democratic  internal  government.  The  sending  of  the  mission 
had  the  sanction  of  the  Legislature,  as  is  evident  from  Concurrent 
Resolution  No.  11  passed  by  that  body.  That  sanction  was  sup- 
plemented by  a  "Declaration  of  Purposes"  which  was  drawn  up 
by  the  same  Legislature  for  the  guidance  of  both  the  Commission 
of  Independence  and  the  Philippine  mission  to  this  country.  In 
that  "Declaration  of  Purposes"  the  Legislature  expressly  says : 
"Therefore,  as  far  as  it  is  humanly  possible  to  judge  and  say,  we 
can  see  only  one  aitn  for  the  Commission  of  Independence :  In- 
dependence; and  we  can  give  only  one  instruction:    To  get  it." 

Now,  it  must  be  conceded  that  all  representative  governments 
are  based  on  the  principle  that  the  constituted  delegates  of  the 

17 


people  are  the  true  spokesmen  of  their  desires.  This  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  system  of  popular  representation.  That  being  the 
case,  it  is  not  understood  how  any  man  acquainted  with  repub- 
hcan  institutions  can  assert  that  the  action  taken  by  the  Philippine 
Legislature  does  not  reflect  the  real  desires  of  the  Filipino  people. 

But  that  is  not  all.  As  soon  as  the  sending  of  the  Philippine 
mission  was  approved  by  the  Philippine  Legislature,  the  1,000 
municipalities  of  the  islands  as  well  as  the  various  associations 
throughout  the  archipelago  flooded  Manila  with  resolutions  unani- 
mously ratifying  the  step  taken.  Organs  of  public  opinion,  in 
their  editorial  columns  as  well  as  in  their  special  articles,  were 
also  emphatic  in  their  approval  of  the  sending  of  the  mission  to 
this  countr}\  The  manifestation  at  the  pier  when  the  mission 
sailed  was  an  eloquent  and  graphic  testimony  of  the  popular 
sentiment  with  regard  to  independence. 

These  facts,  coupled  with  the  further  fact  that  the  Philippine 
mission  came  over  at  the  expense  of  the  Filipino  people,  con- 
clusively show  that  the  Filipino  people  endorse  the  purposes  for 
which  the  mission  had  come.  If  the  movement  for  independence 
fails  at  this  time,  other  missions  will  be  sent  in  the  future  to  raise 
with  more  vigor  the  Philippine  cry  for  that  ideal. 

It  is  indeed  idle  to  speak  of  the  Filipinos  as  not  desiring  their 
freedom  when  history  records  that  they  fought  for  that  freedom 
before  the  Americans  came.  They  had  established  a  republic 
before  America  set  foot  on  Philippine  soil.  They  resisted 
America's  coming  by  force  of  arms  during  all 
Filipino  Atti-  the  time  that  America  had  not  specifically  pro- 
tude  Towards  claimed  her  real  colonial  policy.  It  was  only 
Freedom  when  America  announced  that  she  came  to  the 

Philippines,  not  for  the  purpose  of  exploiting 
the  islands,  but  for  the  purpose  of  lifting  them  to  the  level  of 
modern  civilization  that  the  Filipinos  consented  to  be  under 
America's  control  for  the  time  being. 

Today  especially  when  imperialism  has  already  been  dislodged 
from  the  throne-rooms  of  empires  and  when  freedom  is  the  tide 
and  passion  of  the  time,  it  is  a  bagatelle  to  say  that  our  people 
do  not  want  independence.  Our  desire  for  independence  is  not 
the  mere  wild  prank  of  a  raw,  unbalanced  populace;  it  is  a 
national  movement  to  consummate  a  dearly  cherished  national 
ideal.    It  will  not  do  to  dismiss  our  plea  with  an  icy  smile. 

18 


IV. 

THE  JAPANESE  BUGABOO. 

Statements  that  Japan  covets  the  Philippines  are  based  on 
sheer  surmise.  No  facts  have  been  cited  to  support  them.  The 
papers  would  have  it  understood  that  Japan  will  just  lay  its  claws 
on  the  Philippines,  reason  or  no  reason.    By  some  such  statements 

the  American  people  were  scarecrowed  a  few  years 
A  ago  not  with  respect  to  the  Philippines  but  with 

Scarecrow        respect  to  America  herself.    It  was  said  that  Japan 

desired  to  invade  America ;  that  America,  unpro- 
tected as  she  was,  was  an  easy  prey.  Years  have  passed  since 
then,  and  the  prophecy  was  not  fulfilled.  Will  the  prophecy  be 
fulfilled  in  the  case  of  the  Philippines  ?  The  Filipinos  think  other- 
wise, and  their  opinion  is  based  on  the  considerations  that  follow : 

The  flow  of  Japanese  immigrants  into  the  Philippines  is  neglible 
as  compared  with  the  flow  into  the  United  States,  California  and 
Hawaii  specially.  Today,  there  are  only  about  10,000  Japanese 
in  the  Philippines.  If  it  was  the  intention  of  Japan's  diplomacy 
to  absorb  the  islands  through  pacific  methods,  an  unlimited  num- 
ber of  her  subjects  would  have  been  sent  to  the  country  year  in 
and  year  out.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  United  States  today  is  not 
giving  the  Philippines  protection  against  that  system  of  conquest. 
The  Philippine  Legislature,  for  example,  enacted  a  law  limiting 
the  ownership  of  Philippine  lands  to  Americans  and  Filipinos,  but 
that  law  required  the  approval  of  the  President,  and  the  State 
Department  decided  to  recommend  that  it  be  vetoed ;  so  the  law 
had  to  be  withdrawn. 

Japan  has  repeatedly  belied  her  intention  to  colonize  the  islands. 
Count  Okuma,  while  premier  of  Japan,  has  explicitly  said :  "Japan 
has  no  ulterior  motive,  no  desire  to  secure  more  territory,  no 
thought  of  depriving  China  or  any  other  people  of  anything  they 

now  possess."  Dr.  T.  Masao,  the  President  of 
Assurances  the  recent  Parliamentary  Mission  that  visited 
From  Japan       Manila,  has  assured  the  islands  thus :     "Japan 

and  the  Philippines  are  the  best  of  friends.  There 
is  no  ground,  no  basis,  no  foundation  for  quarrel  and  suspicion. 
You  are  rich  in  natural  resources.  Your  country  is  immensely 
wealthy  in  raw  products.  Japan  is  eminently  a  manufacturing 
country.    We  are  rich  in  finished  products.    There  is  every  reason 

19 


to  be  gained  by  mutual  friendly  and  peaceful  co-operation."  The 
present  Premier  of  Japan  has  likewise  stated  in  his  official  ca- 
pacity that  Japan  has  no  intention  to  take  over  the  Philippines 
for  colonial  purposes,  and  that  the  Japanese  government  will  be 
the  first  to  sign  an  agreement  for  the  neutralization  of  the  archi- 
pelago.   To  the  same  effect  was  Baron  Uchida's  assurance. 

The  Filipinos  see  no  reason  why  these  utterances  shouldH  be 
distrusted.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  aware  that  the  spirit  of 
Bushido  is  incrusted  in  the  consciousness  of  Japan — she  respects 
her  given  word.  And  at  times  we  are  even  led  to  think  that  if 
at  all  Japan  poses  as  the  champion  of  the  Orient,  zmth  now  and 
then  an  outpouring  of  hostility  against  the  Occident,  it  is  because 
all  Bast  has  ever  painfully  suffered  from  the  racial  prejudice  of 
the  West. 

Then  there  is  the  general  attitude  of  Oriental  peoples  towards 
the  Japanese  to  be  considered.  Japan's  designs  on  China  have 
been  exposed  before  the  powers  in  the  peace  conference.  The 
Chinese,  as  a  bulk,  have  never  liked  the  Japanese  by  reason  of 
the  many  concessions  that  have  been  wrung 
Attitude  of  from   China   by   the   Japanese   government, 

Oriental  Peoples  under  the  guise  of  "spheres  of  influence." 
Toward  the  These  spheres  of  influence  are  in  fact  and 

Japanese  import  a  shattering  of  Chinese  territorial  in- 

tegrity, an  absorption  of  China's  most  fertile 
spots,  such  as  her  regions  of  coal  supply,  her  iron  mines,  and  the 
like.  The  more  Japan  encroaches  upon  the  mainland  of  China, 
the  more  will  the  Chinese  feel  that  their  destiny  as  a  nation  is 
doomed  and  the  more  they  will  dislike  the  Japanese  as  a  people. 
The  case  of  Shantung  has  intensified  that  dislike.  And  if  ever 
China  awakes  from  her  lethargy,  Japan  will  have  to  account  for 
all  the  alleged  affronts. 

Korea  is  actually  in  revolution  against  her  Japanese  rulers. 
The  spirit  of  nationalism  is  surging  in  this  land  of  18,000,000 
people.  Hatred  against  the  Japanese  is  manifested  on  every  side. 
Actual  force  has  been  necessary  to  quell  disturbances.  Freedom 
is  the  cry  there, 

Russia,  which  is  a  country  of  astounding  magnitude,  lies  in 
the  north  of  Japan.  The  results  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war  are 
still  painfully  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  Russians.    The  day  may 

20 


yet  come  when  the  Russians  will  attempt  to  wrench  from  the 
Japanese  that  part  of  Russian  territory  known  as  Manchuria 
which  might  and  the  tide  of  battle  have  thrown  into  the  hands  of 
the  Japanese. 

Japan,  therefore,  is  surrounded  by  peoples  not  bound  to  her  by 
ties  of  blood  or  national  interests,  peoples  who  look  upon  her 
international  acts  with  open  fear  and  suspicion,  peoples  who 
have  never  been  willing  to  be  subject  peoples,  peoples  who  are 
awake  to  the  modern  principles  of  government  and  of  interna- 
tional relations. 

To  add  to  that  array  of  unwillinq  nationalities  another  unwilling 
nationality  like  the  Philippines  would  he  to  throw  the  ivhole  Bast 
into  a  camp  always  antagonistic  to  pretensions  of  domination  on 
the  part  of  Japan.  In  the  course  of  time,  the  potency  of  the  an- 
tagonism will  be  irresistible. 

The  Filipinos  will  never  condescend  to  look  up  to  the  Japanese 
as  their  rulers.  The  reason  is  plain :  Their  custom  and  manners, 
their  religion  and  their  ideals  are  glaringly  dififerent  from,  if  not 
antagonistic  to,  those  of  the  Japanese. 

Japan,  of  course,  might  indulge  in  the  hazardous  act  of  killing 
every  Filipino — of  wiping  the  entire  race  out  of  the  globe,  a 
cold-blooded  deed.  But  would  she  in  the  light  of  Germany's 
experience? 

Strategically  also,  it  would  be  unwise  for  Japan  to  add  to  her 
already  scattered  territory  a  group  of  islands  numbering  about 
3,000,  because  all  of  these  must  needs  be  protected  and  fortified 
if  Japan  is  to  remain  secure  in  her  foothold. 

Viewed  from  all  these  aspects,  the  sanest  course  for  Japan  to 
take  with  regard  to  the  East  is  to  court  the  friendship  of  all 
Oriental  peoples.  This  is  the  sanest  course  notwithstanding  the 
Ishii-Lansing  agreement  or  any  other  gentlemen's  agreement  that 

might  exist  or  be  negotiated.  To  pose  as  the 
The  Sanest  Master   of  the   Orient  will  be  hazardous    for 

Course  for  Japan  in  the  extreme.     The  staunchest  opposi- 

Japan  to  Take      tion   will   come   from  the   Philippines.     Other 

nationalities  of  the  Far  East  will  follow  suit, 
for  the  nations  there  are  attuned  to  the  new  era  of  progressive 
humanity.     The  Filipinos  would  be  glad  to  be  a  friend  to  Japan 

21 


commercially  and  internationally.  They  would  contribute  their 
mite  in  the  regeneration  of  the  East.  But  they  will  never  count- 
enance Japanese  domination  over  them :  they  will  never  consent 
to  be  a  footstool  of  the  Nipponese  Empire. 

But  all  these  considerations  aside,  it  would  seem  that  all  hob- 
goblins concerning  the  Japanese  menace  should  vanish  in  the 
face  of  the  new  order  of  things  in  the  world.  Reference  is  mad© 
to   the   new   international    instrumentality   which   has   just   been 

instituted  by  the  powers  and  denominated  the 
The  League  League  of  Nations.  This  is  the  most  promising 
of  Nations  creation  of  the  age.    The  old  order  of  perpetual 

conquest  and  dominion-seeking  has  been  blotted 
out.  The  peoples  of  the  world  are  war-weary.  "Never  again !"  is 
their  plaintive  cry.  That  might  is  right  is  a  discarded  pet  phrase 
of  the  militant  world.  The  rights  of  small  nationalities  have  been 
vindicated  and  safeguarded.  The  Parliament  of  Man  and  the 
Federation  of  the  World  of  which  Tennyson  had  sung  is  well- 
nigh  a  reality. 

We  Filipinos  are  not  pinning  our  faith,  however,  on  the  ma- 
chinery or  efficacy  of  the  League  of  Nations.  //  the  zvorld  is  to 
remain  donned  in  armors  of  steel  and  iron,  we,  too,  could  equip 
land  and  naval  forces.  We  confidently  believe  we  could  turn  out 
fighters  that  can  approximate,  if  not  equal,  other  soldiers  of  the 
world  in  valor  and  skill.  We,  too,  can  fortify  our  islands.  We 
are  aware  that  despite  their  numerousness,  they  have  a  unique 
military  advantage — a  physical  strategic  unity.  In  the  words  of 
Messrs.  Davis,  Frye  and  Reid,  "there  is  hardly  a  single  island  in 
the  group  from  which  you  cannot  shoot  across  to  one  or  more  of 
the  others — scarcely  another  archipelago  in  the  world  in  which 
the  islands  are  crowded  as  closely  together  and  so  interdependent." 
(Cited  in  Blount,  "The  American  Occupation  of  the  Philippines," 

V. 
WILL  AMERICA  BE  IMPERIALISTIC? 

The  traditional  policy  of  America  is  against  colonial  expansion. 
From  the  foundation  of  this  Republic  to  the  present  day,  the 
American  people  have  adhered  to  that  policy.  When,  therefore, 
we  hear  American  statesmen  today  crying  in  vigorous  language 
that  the  promise  of  independence  to  the  Philippines  should  be 
withdrawn  lest  the  American  republic  disintegrate,  we  are  tempted 

22 


to  suspect  that  some  Americans  are  resolved  to  override  their 
country's  traditions. 

The  PhiHppines  fell  under  America's  domination  by  the  stroke 
of  chance.  The  taking  of  the  islands  was  not  an  inevitable  result 
of  the  war  to  liberate  Cuba.  America  herself  was  startled  when 
Dewey  cabled  the  unexpected  news  that  the  American  flag  had 
been  hoisted  on  Philippine  soil.  That  America 
America's  had  no  right  to  take  the  Philippines  may  be 

Right  to  Take        proved  beyond  question.    Mr.  James  H.  Blount 
the  Islands  has  done  that  admirably  in  his  book,  "Ameri- 

can Occupation  of  the  Philippines."  We  shall 
not  rehearse  the  circumstances  here,  because  it  will  only  be  re- 
viving the  gloomy  discord  of  the  past. 

The  people  of  this  country  know  that  the  Filipinos  have  always 
been  desirous  of  being  free.  The  resistance  to  America's  coming 
is  the  eloquent  proof  of  the  sentiment  in  the  Philippines  with 
regard  to  freedom.  Ever  since  the  implantation  of  American 
sovereignty  the  spirit  of  nationalism  has  been 
America's  vigorously   asserting  itself   in   the  archipelago. 

Promise  of  The  clamor  for  independence  has  been  insistent. 

Independence  It  became  acute  somewhere  in  1916,  and  the 
Jones  Bill  was  passed  by  the  United  States 
Congress,  which  announced  in  unequivocal  terms  that  America 
will  unrivet  the  shackles  of  political  bondage  and  give  the  long- 
awaited  independence  as  soon  as  a  stable  government  is  estab- 
lished by  the  Filipinos.  The  Filipino  people  firmly  believe  that 
this  declaration  by  the  duly  constituted  representatives  of  the 
American  nation  will  not  be  a  mere  scrap  of  paper,  to  be  shriveled 
to  ashes  at  the  whim  of  imperialistic  souls.  It  will  not  do  to 
contend,  as  one  writer  has  contended,  that  the  preamble  of  the 
Jones  Law  of  August  29,  1916,  containing  that  declaration,  is 
not  an  integral  part  of  the  law  itself  and  that,  therefore,  it  may 
be  flung  aside  by  succeeding  Congresses  if  they  so  choose.  De- 
spite that  fact,  if  fact  it  be  fairly  and  logically,  the  promise  to 
grant  independence  is  there,  clear  and  unmistakable.  It  is  in 
black  and  white.  It  is  a  ratification  of  the  policies  enunciated  by 
the  Presidents  of  America,  from  McKinley  down.  To  repudiate 
the  promise,  as  was  ponderously  trumpeted  some  time  ago,  is  the 
most  crass  injustice  that  can  be  perpetrated  by  America  upon  a 
people  whose  only  national  fault,  in  the  words  of  Andrew  Car- 

23 


negie,  "is  that  they  believe  in  the  American  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence." 

The  Philippines  have  never  been  an  integral  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican republic.  America's  Constitution  did  not  follow  her  flag 
in  the  islands.  The  Filipinos  have  never  been  American  citizens 
as  the  Porto  Ricans  have  been.  The  tw^enty  million  dollars  paid 
Spain  by  the  United  States  was  not  a  pur- 
The  Philippines  chase  price  of  the  islands  and  their  people. 
Never  an  The  amount  was  paid :    First,  as  a  salve  to 

Integral  Part  Spain's   feelings;  second,  as  an  assumption 

of  America  of  Spain's  debt  for  pacific  improvements,  ex- 

isting then  in  the  form  of  bonds  bearing  6 
per  cent  interest;  and  third,  because  America  preferred  to  pay  the 
sum  rather  than  indulge  anew  in  the  costly  luxury  of  war.  (Vide, 
"The  Americans  in  the  Philippines,"  by  Le  Roy,  p.  124,  note; 
also  pp.  369-370;  "The  Government  of  the  Philippine  Islands," 
by  Geo.  A.  Malcolm,  pp.  178  and  179;  pp.  193-194,  note.)  If  the 
Philippines  are  not,  thus,  an  integral  part  of  America,  it  is  not 
seen  how  it  can  be  averred  that  if  the  islands  be  given  their  status 
as  a  sovereign  nation,  the  American  republic  would  disintegrate. 

One  thing  should  not  be  overlooked :  the  sooner  independence 
is  granted  to  the  Filipinos  the  stronger  will  be  the  ties  that  bind 
them  to  the  American  commonwealth  and  to  the  American  people ; 
the  more  the  granting  is  delayed  the  more  will  the  Filipinos  sus- 
pect that  America  is  bent  on  the  perpetual  retention  of  the  archi- 
pelago and  the  denial  of  the  righteous  claims  of  Philippine  na- 
tionalism. That  would  be  astoundingly  disappointing  to  the  Fili- 
pinos whose  love  for  freedom  is  inborn.  Admiration  for  America 
might  dwindle  as  a  consequence,  and  trade  relations  between 
America  and  the  Philippines  might  suffer  impairment. 

The  granting  of  independence  to  the  islands  should  not  neces- 
sarily jeopardize  America's  interests  in  the  Eastern  hemisphere. 
The  attitude  of  the  Filipino  people  with  regard  to  the  maiter 
seems  to  be  this:     If  America  desires  coaling  statiotis  in  the 

Philippines,  she  may  have  them  as 
America's  Eastern  well  under  a  Philippine  republic.    If 

Interests  and  America  desires  to  make  Manila  her 

Philippine  Independence  threshhold  to  the  trade  of  the  rapidly 
Are  Compatible  unfolding  East,  she  shall  have   the 

privilege  under  a  government  by  the 
Filipinos.    If  America  must  have  military  and  naval  bases  in  the 

24 


archipelago — if  she  must  have  an  "easternmost  frontier,"  as  one 
American  editor  has  expressed  it — she  will  also  have  that.  The 
proposition  of  the  Filipinos  today  is  to  have  America  recognize 
now  the  independence  of  the  Philippines,  under  terms  to  he  ne- 
gotiated upon  by  duly  appointed  representatives  of  the  Americans 
on  one  part  and  of  the  Filipinos  on  the  other.  The  Filipinos  owe 
to  America  much  of  what  they  and  their  country  are  today,  and 
it  is  not  selfish — much  less,  unreasonable — for  Americans  to  insist 
that  any  political  arrangement  affecting  the  status  of  the  islands 
shall  definitely  and  adequately  safeguard  the  needs  of  America's 
commerce. 


THERE  IS  A  STABLE  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  PHIL- 
IPPINES TODAY. 

There  is  only  one  condition  precedent  to  the  granting  of  Phil- 
ippine independence.  And  that  is,  that  as  soon  as  a  stable  govern- 
ment has  been  established  in  the  islands,  independence  will  be 
granted.     There  is  today  a  stable  government  in  the  Philippines. 

It  is  a  government  elected  by  the 
The  Only  Condition  peaceful  suffrages  of  the  people,  sup- 

Precedent  to  the  ported  by  the  people,  capable  of  main- 

Granting  of  Philippine  taining  order  and  of  fulfilling  its  inter- 
Independence  national  obligations.     It  is  patterned 

after  republican  institutions.  It  has 
the  necessary  checks  and  balances.  It  is  run  on  the  party  system. 
We  have  a  legislature  which  is  composed  entirely  of  Filipinos, 
and  elected  by  direct  popular  suffrage.  We  have  a  Council  of 
State  which  is  an  advisory  body  to  the  governor  general.  It  de- 
termines the  policy  of  the  different  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment and  recommends  measures  to  the  Legislature.  We  are 
more  progressive  than  many  countries  of  the  world  in  fiscal  legis- 
lation ;  we  have  adopted  the  budget  system  of  government  appro- 
priation and  expenditures,  and  this  has  systematized  our  finances. 

Our   government    is    divided    into    several 
Structure  of  departments,   much   in  the  same  way  that 

Present  Philippine  the  United  States  Government  is  divided. 
Government  At  the  head  of  each  department  is  a  Secre- 

tary.    And  the  department  secretaries  con- 
stitute the  Cabinet,  the  members  of  which  might  appear  or  might 

25 


be  summoned  before  the  legislature  to  account  for  their  acts. 
They  are  thus  directlfy  responsible  not  only  to  the  chief  executive 
of  the  islands,  but  also  to  the  representatives  of  the  people. 

The  whole  archipelago  is  divided  into  provinces ;  they  cor- 
respond to  the  states  of  the  American  Union.  Each  province  is 
divided  into  municipalities ;  these  correspond  to  the  counties  of 
the  United  States.  At  the  head  of  each  province  is  a  governor; 
the  legislative  body  is  Provincial  Board.  The  executive  of  each 
municipality  is  a  president;  the  legislative  body  is  a  municipal 
council.  The  governors,  the  presidents  and  the  members  of  the 
local  legislative  bodies  are  all  elected  by  direct  popular  suffrage. 

Such  in  skeleton  is  our  system  of  government.  It  has  been 
functioning  without  a  hitch  ever  since  its  adoption.  It  combines 
the  fine  traits  of  American  institutions  and  the  virile  attribute  of 
the  English  system  of  governmental  finance.  Above  all,  it  has 
been  honest.  And  it  is  self-supporting.  It  has  established  peace 
and  order  throughout  the  archipelago.  It  has  undertaken  numer- 
ous public  works.  It  has  made  education  universal  and  free.  It 
has  improved  the  sanitation  of  the  islands.  It  has  encouraged 
agricultural  and  industrial  enterprises.    It  has  extended  credit. 

It  is  not  a  fact,  as  many  Americans  assert,  that  the  islands  are 
a  financial  burden  to  the  United  States.  The  Insular  Treasury 
has  always  had  sufficient  funds  with  which  to  meet  all  the  expenses 
of  the  Insular  Government,  and  a  surplus  besides.     No  United 

States  dollar  has  ever  been  expended  in  the 
The  Islands  Are  sanitation,  education,  and  public  works  of  the 
Self-Supporting        archipelago.    What  America  has  done  was  to 

furnish  the  brains,  the  enterprise,  and  the 
example  with  which  to  hasten  the  material  and  intellectual  de- 
velopment of  the  Filipino  nation.  The  financial  part  of  the 
undertaking  was  borne  by  the  Filipinos  through  a  representative 
system  of  taxation. 

America,  it  is  true,  has  a  standing  army  in  the  Philippines  which 
is  paid  from  the  United  States  Treasury.  But  the  existence  and 
maintainance  of  that  standing  army  are  incident  upon  the  taking 
over  and  retention  of  the  islands.  Clearly,  if  America  must  con- 
tinue holding  a  territorial  possession,  she  necessarily  must  have 
forces  and  fortifications  with  which  to  challenge  aggressive  de- 
signs on  the  part  of  any  other  power.    » 

26 


LET  US  HAVE  FAIR  PLAY 

We  protest  against  the  insidious  tactics  of  some  American 
writers  who,  in  the  haste  to  cripple  the  Fihpino  plea  for  inde- 
pendence, invariably  decorate  their  magazine  and  newspaper 
articles  with  pictures  of  the  backward,  scantily  dressed,  peoples 
of  the  Philippines.  We  call  that  foul  play.  For  those  people  are 
by  no  means  representative  of  the  bulk  of  Filipinos.  They  con- 
stitute the  decided  minority — one-twentieth  of  the  total  population 
of  the  archipelago.  They  inhabit  the  mountains  and  do  not 
meddle  with  the  affairs  below.  It  is  not  fair  to  predicate  Filipino 
capacity  for  self-government  on  the  looks,  attire  and  backwardness 
of  those  mountain  people.  They  are  to  the  Philippines  what  the 
Indians  are  to  America — no  more,  no  less.  The  10,000,000  Chris- 
tian Filipinos  are  doing  their  best  to  educate.  Christianize  and 
otherwise  bring  them  within  the  fold  of  modern  civilization.  We 
do  not  seek  to  exterminate  or  exploit  them.  We  do  not  confine 
them  in  reservations.  We  are  approaching  them  in  the  most 
friendly  way.    And  they  are  responding  eagerly. 

So,  too,  by  press  materials  cunningly 
Islands  Have  Been  arrayed  and  cunningly  written,  actual  con- 
Misrepresented  ditions  in  the  Philippines  have  been  twist- 
ed. Our  manners  and  mode  of  living  have 
been  ridiculed.  We  have  been  misrepresented  beyond  forgetting. 
Our  defects  have  been  exaggerated.  And  our  virtues  and  attain- 
ments have  been  misantrophically  brushed  aside. 

We  would  request  the  writers  who  are  antagonistic  to  the 
Philippine  ideal  to  once  in  a  while  favor  our  cause  with  pictures 
and  descriptions  of  the  conditions  of  today — not  ot  the  conditions 
of  two  decades  ago — in  the  regions  where  modernity  has  had  its 
touch. 

To  American  eyes,  it  may  be  true  that  we  are  crude  in  un- 
numbered ways,  that  our  proletariat  are  oftentimes  destitute  of 
the  means  by  which  they  could  enjoy  the  modern  comforts  of 
life,  that  our  standard  of  living  is  very  far  behind  that  of  America, 
that  we  have  traits  that  are  not  very  Occidental.  But  these  are 
no  arguments  against  our  ability  to  govern  ourselves.  Neither 
should  they  be  made  a  deterrent  to  the  granting  of  our  complete 
independence.  For  we  are  advanced  in  thought  and  ideas;  we 
realize  the  advantages  and,  unbaffled,  we  practice  the  ways  of 

27 


modern  republicanism;  zve  have  the  poise,  the  intelligence  and  the 
aplomb  that  are  essential  in  a  democracy. 

"Let  him  who  scoffs  at  the  impossibility  of  Phihppine  progress 
without  even  awaiting  events  make  a  comparison  between  the 
United  States  when  she  adopted  her  Constitution,  and  the  Phil- 
ippines if  she  be  permitted  to  ratify  hers.  In  1790  the  number 
of  inhabitants  in  the  United  States  was  under 
The  Philippines  four  million.  The  Philippines  have  double 
Today  and  the  this.  Of  the  American  inhabitants,  nearly  one- 
United  States  fifth  were  negroes.  The  Philippines  have 
in  1776  nowhere  near  this  proportion  of   non-Chris- 

tians. Of  the  American  inhabitants,  the 
ancestors  of  eight-tenths  were  probably  English  and  a  homogen- 
eous part  of  the  community.  Of  the  Filipinos,  at  least  as  large 
a  percentage  are  of  one  race.  Of  the  Americans,  the  intellect  of 
the  people  was  little  developed.  The  graduating  classes  of  all  the 
colleges  in  1789  counted  up  to  about  170.  The  graduating  classes 
of  one  university  in  the  Philippines  exceed  this  number.  In 
economic  conditions  the  United  States  were  little  advanced, 
although  the  country  abounded  in  natural  resources.  The  same 
statement  can  be  written  for  the  Philippines."  (Justice  Geo.  A. 
Malcolm:    "Government  of  the  Philippine  Islands,"  p.  250.) 


CONCLUSION 


We  wish  to  write  across  the  consciousness  of  America  that  the 
Filipinos  are  a  nation  moved  by  an  intense  desire  to  be  free ;  that 
we  are  a  people  with  a  feeling  and  a  sense  of  dignity,  and  as  such 
resent  the  numerous  insults  repeatedly  hurled  against  us;  that  it 
is  not  fair  that  we  be  invariably  and  indiscriminately  pictured  as 
savages,  neither  is  it  just  that  our  defects  should  be  exaggerated 
and  our  virtues  ignored,  whenever  we  press  our  claims  to 
sovereignty. 

The  burning  desire  of  the  Filipinos  is  to  have  an  international 
personality.  They  long  for  a  more  dignified  place  in  the  sister- 
hood of  the  nations.    They  believe  that  too  long  a  dependence  on 

28 


America  would  only  stultify  their  initiative  and  their  latent 
energies  as  a  people.  Clearly,  they  cannot  hope 
Desire  for  an  to  be  a  strong  nation  or  race  unless  left  alone  to 
Internationa]  face  the  vicissitudes  of  time.  They  are  perfectly 
Personality  willing  to  take  a  chance.  It  is  a  manly  attitude 
and  should  not  be  discouraged.  It  should  com- 
mand instead  the  admiration  of  this  stalwart  republic.  Certainly 
it  deserves  the  encouragement  and  support  of  true  Americans. 

Signs  of  impatience  for  the  long-awaited  freedom  are  already 
visible  in  the  Philippines.  The  people  feel  that  justice  delayed 
is  justice  denied.  America,  indeed,  has  been  generous  but 
unseeing.    She  has  chosen  to  listen — unconsciously,  let  us  hope — 

to  the  incantations  of  bigoted  interests  with 
America  Generous  regard  to  the  capacity  and  attainment  of  the 
But  Unseeing  Filipinos,  and  not  to  the  testimony  of  her 

duly  appointed  representatives.  And  the 
Filipinos  properly  inquire :  Of  what  use  are  America's  official 
representatives  in  the  Philippines  if  their  opinions  and  recom- 
mendations are  to  be  discarded  as  soon  as  uttered?  There  is 
Governor  General  Harrison,  for  example,  and  there  is  Vice 
Governor  Yeater.  They  have  repeatedly  made  statements  sub- 
stantiating the  claims  of  the  Filipinos  that  they  are  ready  for 
their  badge  of  sovereignty.  Governor  General  Harrison  person- 
ally appeared  before  Congress  the  other  day.  Under  his  responsi- 
bility as  representative  of  the  American  people  in  the  Philippines 
he  stated  that  the  Filipino  people  are  ready  for  an  independent 
status  as  a  nation.  What  was  the  result?  A  portion  of  America 
smiled.  A  portion  said  that  the  official  did  not  know  what  he  was 
talking  about.  A  portion  stated  that  the  Governor  was  playing 
politics  and  riding  for  a  fall.  A  portion  is  asking :  "Is  it  possible 
that  the  Filipinos  have  advanced  so  far?"  The  limit  of  jaunty 
indifference  was  reached  when  the  joint  committee  which  heard 
the  presentation  of  the  Philippine  case  pigeonholed  the  plea  for 
independence,  to  be  resurrected  time  alone  knows  when !  We 
repeat  our  query :  Of  what  use  are  America's  official  representa- 
tives in  the  Philippines  if  they  are  not  to  be  believed? 

Retention  of  the  islands  is  sought  to  be  justified  on  many 
grounds.  Fear  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  Japan  is  one  of  them. 
Magnified  with  a  thousand  doleful  phrases,  this  is  the  ground  that 

29 


has  been  repeatedly  pushed  to  the  forefront  to  scare  the  Filipino.- 
But  in  thus  hesitating  to  turn  the  islands 
Grounds  for  loose,  because  Japan  might  gobble  ihcm  up, 

Retention  Refuted  does  not  America,  to  quote  the  Charleston 
(S.  C.)  American,  "openly  confess  that  she 
has  failed  to  make  the  zvorld  safe  for  democracy f"  Is  the  world 
to  understand,  then,  that  America  dares  not  challenge  the  power 
that  dares  lift  its  finger  to  defile  the  magnificent  colonial  handi- 
work that  is  the  Philippines?  Shall  democracy  be  ever  cowed  in 
front  of  dynastic  imperialism  f 

Then,  it  is  said  that  the  Philippines  are  being  held  as  a  trust 
to  civilization ;  that  the  trust  is  a  sacred  trust ;  that  it  must  be 
fulfilled  before  the  islands  could  be  allowed  to  go  to  shift  for 
themselves.  Pray,  tell  us  who  shall  decide  whether  the  sacred 
trust  has  been  executed  or  not?  Will  it  be  the  imperialists  who 
would  cling  to  their  outworn  creed  even  though  the  heavens  fall? 
Will  it  be  the  commercial  interests  of  the  land  whose  deity  is 
the  Dollar?  Will  it  be  the  exigencies  of  politics?  If  any  of  these 
be  the  case,  then  Philippine  independence  will  never  come  to  pass. 
For  plead  for  it  as  best  we  can,  any  of  those  as  the  judge  will 
just  be  standing  by  "as  unheeding  as  the  Nile," 

Finally,  we  are  told  that  this  is  not  the  time  for  talking  inde- 
pendence, that  the  world  is  in  a  state  of  flux,  that  it  is  unsafe 
to  let  us  embark  in  the  turbulent  tides  of  international  aflfairs. 
And  yet  other  small  nationalities  of  the  world  were  given  their 
freedom  even  before  the  smoke  of  battle  had  died  away.  They 
are  nations,  too,  that  are  sandwiched  between  dynasties  and 
peoples  born  and  reared  beneath  the  dogmas  of  haughty  militarism. 
And  America,  in  all  her  present  greatness,  rejoices  to  behold  the 
scene,  because  it  was  her  job!  Shall  there  be  exceptions,  then,  in 
international  justice?  Must  America  sympathize  only  with  the 
cause  of  Ireland  or  only  with  the  cause  of  Poland,  or  of  the 
Czecho-Slovaks  ?  How  long  will  the  shot  heard  around  the  world 
be  turning  back  against  the  principle  which  propelled  it? 

The  Filipinos  cannot  but  zvonder! 


30 


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